


Danse Departs

by TechnoLichy



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7712068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnoLichy/pseuds/TechnoLichy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The brotherhood has discovered Danse's secret. Now the Sole Survivor has to do his duty as a Knight of the brotherhood of steel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Danse Departs

I opened the bunker’s door with a soft metallic hiss. Danse was sitting on a crate all the way across the room wincing as he slowly drew his combat knife along his arm leaving crimson lines that dripped down to his hands and onto the floor. I stepped in slowly and tightened my grip on my laser rifle as I took aim at his back.  
“I know why you’re here Knight…. Does Maxon….. even want me alive?” I tried to say something but couldn’t. I didn’t know how Danse had heard me, I had hoped that if I had to do this I could do it quickly and painlessly.  
“....No.” I croaked as my voice broke.  
“I figured as much…I’m sorry... I wish he had sent someone else. I didn’t want you to have to do this.”  
My eyes blurred with tears, even though he couldn’t see them through my helmet’s visor if he’d been looking at me, I knew that he felt the grief in me.  
“It’s not true. Tell me it’s not true. You taught me everything I know about the Brotherhood! You’re a Paladin for fuck’s sake!” I punched the wall in frustration. “Why didn’t you tell me?”   
“I didn’t know. I still can’t believe it.” He raised his cut covered arm and stared numbly at the self inflicted wounds watching rivulets of blood rush to his elbow. “I can’t understand why. I feel pain, I feel shame, I feel... like a traitor…. But it’s true. As soon as I heard I knew it wasn’t a mistake... I am what the Brotherhood stands against. Science gone too far… You have to destroy me.”  
“There’s got to be...isn’t there some other way? I could take your holo tags, a handful of ash from a raider and...and just… let you go.”  
“No. My whole life has been devoted to the brotherhood. In this war, against the institute, we can not fail in our duty. I would rather die as an example of what we stand for than flee as the machine they made.” Danse stood, dropping the knife in the pool of blood at his feet. He moved towards me and I couldn’t react even though the instincts drilled into me was to not let him approach. He fell to his knees and grabbed the muzzle of my rifle. He moved it to point at his head.   
“You are a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel. You know what you have to do.” I tightened the stock into my shoulder and put my finger in the trigger guard. “It’s ok... do your duty.” His voice was hardly a whisper.  
I clenched so hard that the rifle rattled so hard I thought the MF cell would fall out. Danse looked at me with such defeat in his eyes. I couldn’t stand to look at them. I swing my fist and connected with the side of his head. Danse sprawled on the floor and looked up at me in surprise.   
“Are you even the man I met at that police station?” I yelled. “Are you not the man who wouldn’t give up the mission despite being down to two men? The Danse I know wouldn’t just….just tuck his tail and wait to die! Why the fuck were you even here? You knew the Brotherhood would send someone!”  
He slowly sat up holding his cheek, still shocked by my fury and the pain in his face. He slowly stood up and stared at me, his eyes sharper, clearer, the steady powerful gaze he was known for.  
“You don’t know what this is like. Can you imagine knowing that you were the thing you dedicated your life to fighting? The reason I waited here was because I wanted a chance to say goodbye… I don’t want to live a life on the run. I don’t want to live outside the brotherhood. I don’t want to live… as a machine!” He hissed the last word and walked away. “Do you know I’ve been trying to kill myself since I found out?”  
I shook my head slowly, not taking my eyes off him.  
“I sat here trying to eat my gun, tried to slice my arteries but I must have some self preservation code because I just can’t make myself do it. I don’t cut deep enough, I don’t load the gun right, something. Something always stops me.”  
“Maybe that’s a sign you’re not ready to give up.”  
“No….that’s why I stayed here. I’ve been waiting for someone to come to put me down… I’m sorry that it’s fallen to you-”  
“What about Scribe Haylen?” I interrupted. “That poor girl is going to be devastated and I’m the one who’s going to have to tell her that you gave up on her and waited for me to end you.”  
“She’ll get over it… She’s a good kid… she’ll stay true to the cause…” The silence between us grew until it I wasn’t sure it’d ever be broken.  
“God damn you Danse.” I said as I took off my helmet. “You weren’t supposed to quit on me.”  
“I’m sorry...I wish I wasn’t...what I am.” he looked at the floor. “You know Maxon will kill you if you don’t take me down. He probably followed you here.”  
“I know he followed me... you... you taught me how to tell when you’re being followed.” tears fell freely from my eyes and Danse wrapped his non bloody arm around me. He kissed the top of my head and took a deep breath.  
“I wish I could do it for you...I really do. But I can’t... I'm sorry.”  
“I know… Turn around… count it down… from ten.” I choked out. He released me and looked me in the eye one last time. I could tell he was ready. I could tell he was proud. He turned away from me and fell to his knees. I put a hand on his shoulder and aimed the rifle at the back of his skull.   
“Thank you," he said, emotion creeping into his steady voice for the first time. "You were the finest Knight I ever served with." I knew then that he was more human than half the scum infesting the commonwealth. Then he began to count. "Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… fi-” the sound of the laser bolt bursting through his head stopped him from finishing.


End file.
